Professor David Cowling, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Arts and Humanities) at Durham University said: "These latest world rankings demonstrate the continued international excellence of Arts and Humanities teaching and research at Durham University.

“We have strength in every subject area and particularly value research-led education, allowing our students to develop skills which equip them well for future studies or the world of work.

“Building on this success, we are growing a number of our programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, giving more students the opportunity to benefit from a Durham University education.”

Enhancing research, teaching and collaboration

The University is involved in many pioneering projects that enhance research, teaching and collaboration. These include:

Palace Museum Partnership – archaeologists from Durham this year became the first UK university team to work at an archaeological site inside the walls of the Forbidden City in Beijing, as part of a collaboration with China’s Palace Museum.

Commission on Creativity and Education – launching later this year in collaboration with Arts Council England, the Commission will investigate what happens when children experience arts and culture, and how this helps them develop and thrive.

International Residential Research Library - the only one of its kind in the UK, the library is intended to attract leading researchers from around the world to study and work with the outstanding collections at Ushaw College, Durham Cathedral and Palace Green Library.

Monks in Motion - a project that has brought together records of English and Welsh Benedictine monks exiled in Europe in a first-of-its-kind searchable database, launched this month (September 2017) and uncovered some of their remarkable histories. A video about this project is below.

Hearing the Voice - a large interdisciplinary study that aims to develop a better understanding of the experience of hearing a voice when no-one is speaking. The researchers work with clinicians and other mental health professionals, and listen to people who have heard voices themselves.